Video 1: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Quebec’s Bill 101 is official [video]. Toronto, ON: CBC/Radio Canada; 1977.
Link https://curio.ca/en/video/quebecs-bill-101-is-official-22012/.
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Registration and login required for access. Curio is free to most faculty and students of Canadian post-secondary institutions.
Length 3 minutes 6 seconds
Short summary/description
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This historical video covers the introduction of Bill 101, the French language charter, which was adopted on August 26, 1977. In its early days, the French language charter was seen as a tool for transforming a traditionally bilingual Quebec into a unilingual French province and was hailed as a master plan to free Quebec from the economic dominance of the province’s English minority.
Critical Thinking Questions
- More recently, expansion and reinforcement of Bill 101 in Quebec has been proclaimed by some as discriminatory. Discuss.
- What are the roots of language rights in Canada?
 
Video 2: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Behind the scenes of the Quebec referendum [video]. Toronto, ON: CBC/Radio Canada; 2014.
Link https://curio.ca/en/video/behind-the-scenes-of-the-quebec-referendum-5028/.
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Registration and login required for access. Curio is free to most faculty and students of Canadian post-secondary institutions.
Length 17 minutes 35 seconds
Short summary/description
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This video reviews aspects of the 1995 Quebec referendum which ended with the federalist side winning a tight victory. An enduring question of Canadian history is what would have happened if the tight vote had gone the other way. As part of the 20th anniversary of the referendum in 2015, two of Quebec’s leading journalists, Chantal Hébert and Jean Lapierre, discuss that question.
Critical Thinking Questions
- Summarize the results of the 1995 referendum in Quebec.
- Describe aspects within Quebec society today that may be particularly influential if a referendum to separate were held in Quebec within the next 2 years.
 
Video 3: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Lessons learned from the Oka Crisis. Power & Politics [video]. Toronto, ON: CBC/Radio Canada; 2020 Feb 19.
Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2I_pyZqK1A.
Length 8 minutes 49 seconds
Short summary/description
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This video provides perspective on the Oka Crisis 25 years later. More recently, the federal government has been reluctant to use police to enforce a court injunction against blockades that are disrupting rail traffic across Canada because it fears a repeat of the Oka Crisis.
Critical Thinking Questions
- Briefly summarize the Oka Crisis.
- How likely is it that an event similar to Oka could repeat itself in Quebec with respect to Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations?
 
Video 4: Gjerstad O, Tagoon W, Lajoie B. Napagunnaqullusi - So that you can stand [video]. Montreal, QC: Pascal Blais Studio; 2015.
Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G76US7j72pI.
Length 2 minutes 14 seconds
Short summary/description
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This is a trailer for the documentary about the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Forty years ago, Inuit from Northern Quebec took on the government and Hydro Quebec and eventually settled the first modern day land claims in Canada.
Critical Thinking Questions
- How did Inuit stand up to the Government of Canada and why?
- What was the result of the legal challenge and negotiation with respect to Hydro Quebec actions in northern Quebec?